The Epitaph of Epitaphs for Williamsburg's Boom

It’s tough to know where to start with the New York mag story on the rise and dizzying fall of Williamsburg’s condo boom, which casts the neighborhood as “New York’s version of the collapsing exurban ‘boomburgs’ in Florida and Arizona.” Is it the detail that the developers of the Steelworks Lofts, who paid $26.5 million for their condo-to-be a couple years ago, are considering turning their building into a youth hostel? No, perhaps it’s the news that potential buyers for the failed (and mostly constructed) Warehouse 11 project are coming up with offers “closer to $30 million than the $50 million owed” to the bank by its developers. There’s too much in it to fully blurb, but here are some of the choicest bits:

• David Maundrell, president of Aptsandlofts.com, estimates that 2,818 new Burg apartments will have hit the market by the end of this year, with another 2,766 projected by the end of next year. Also, Maundrell tools around town in a $120K Maserati bought with condo-sales dough.
• Even though Williamsburg developers are having a lot of trouble selling the units they do have, they’re still bemoaning the repeal of the 421-a tax abatement that would have allowed them to build even more units.
• Before she died, Jane Jacobs wrote a letter to the mayor saying the Williamsburg rezoning that put the wheels in motion for the condo explosion appeared to be a particularly risky move: Even the presumed beneficiaries of this misuse of governmental powers, the developers and financiers of luxury towers, may not benefit, she wrote. Misused environments are not good long-term economic bets.

There’s a great deal more of note in the article, which is well worth a read.
The Billyburg Bust [New York]
Pic by krzysztof.poluchowicz.